The Chinese Communist Revolution And The Social And Cultural Changes In Taihang Mountainous Areas (1937-1949)

The Sino-Japanese War and the Liberation War form 1937 to 1949 are undoubtedly an important turning point for the contemporary Chinese history, which not only achieved the liberation of the Chinese nation, but also led to the directional change of China's social development. The most important factor of the change is that the existence and development of the anti-Japanese base area, which is an "experimental base" of insisting on the national liberation war and refreshing the society, provided the necessary stage of history for the social reform of the Chinese Communist Party. During the war, the social change gradually accumulated and achieved the qualitative change in society, which completely changed the original society structure in rural areas and created a new society. The Taihang Revolutionary Base was set up in the early days of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 when the Eighth Route Army was advancing in North China, with the backing of Taihang Mountains, located in the juncture of three provinces-- Shanxi, Hebei and Henan province, not only the birthplace and center of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Border region, but also its summit organ--Northern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee(afterwards called the Central Bureau of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu) and the encampment of the Eighth Route Army battlefront headquarters. So, it had an important strategy position. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the people in Taihang Base has carried on a lasting, tenacious, hard and bitter struggle against the invading Japanese troops and made a great sacrifice and tremendous contribution for the victory of winning the Sino-Japanese War, which was an important part of the Anti-Japanese War. In the War of Liberation, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the people in Taihang Base continued to carry on a valiant struggle with the Kuomintang reactionaries, finally won a great victory in the war. However, the region of Taihang mountainous areas was a long closed and backward state before the establishment of the base due to the remoteness, transport facilities and poor information. With following the old mode of production and the lives of conventionalism, the inherent local culture of small-scale society was developed from generation to generation. Along with the development of Taihang revolutionary base and a series of revolutionary transformation launched by the Chinese Communist Party, this backward, ignorant and closed land has undergone enormous changes in all aspects of society became the distinctive window of awakening modern Chinese nation's and democratic awareness.Cultural transformation and social reform in rural areas were two themes of social development in the base in the 1930s and 1940s. The implementation of the new social integration in rural areas was the urgent task after the foundation of Taihang revolutionary base, that is, "the backward rural area was turned into the advanced and consolidated base, and became the great revolution position in the military, political, economic, cultural aspects to oppose the ferocious enemies, who using the urban to assault the rural region, so as to gradually win all victories of revolutionary in the long-term battles. With the economic and political reforms in the base, the Chinese Communist Party successfully controlled and initiated a new culture and its establishment and development undoubtedly had a decisive role in the consolidation, growth and development of the base. The rural culture movement became the main part of the new culture movement in the base because the anti-Japanese base was established in the vast rural areas and farmers were not only the main object of cultural propaganda and education but also the main body of enriching rural culture construction. After the war broke out, with the official force to penetrate rural society, the control of government to local society reached an unprecedented degree. In the martial environment, the propaganda and mobilization function of culture in anti-Japanese were paid more attention, the anti-Japanese culture advocated by the Chinese Communist Party was a rural mainstream culture of this period and its main task was to mobilize the people for nation-saving. So, the new culture movement in Taihang revolutionary base was facing the rural areas, war mobilization, the united front, warring with the enemy's enslaving propaganda and feudal superstition thought, and is the road to the democratic. As an important part of power construction, the booming development of rural culture movement in the base effectively promoted the consolidation and development of the base in Political, economic, and military construction. The rural culture development in Taihang base really enlightened the ideological consciousness and cultivated patriotic feelings of farmers, carried forward the national spirit and the democratic air, strongly get rid of the feudal superstition widespread in rural areas, promoted the civil-military unity and the Sino-Japanese War, formed national, scientific and popular new-democratic culture, strengthened the rural grass-roots political power, implemented the new democratic theory, line, principles and policies and accumulated valuable experience to the prosperity of socialist culture. The rural culture construction in Taihang revolutionary base is not only the cultural propaganda, popularization and construction movement, but also the rural social reform movement. The rural culture construction direct impacted the old feudal order and the old customs to promoted the improvement of social conduct such as the feudal ethical code to be smashed, mercenary marriage to be abolished and the family status and the social status of most oppressed women to be improved. The new social morality and qualities began to grow up. Getting rid of the old customs and the bondage of the old culture, most farmers gradually recognized and accepted the communist ideology and morality, consciously incorporated their behavior into the new political, economic and cultural patterns planned by the new regime, and the final results of this process represented the combination of the public power and state power. Through social and cultural revolutions, the authority of the CPC gradually infiltrated to the folk and ultimately achieved its rule.Undoubtedly, the war has changed the society and gestated a new life. With the different from military struggle and violent revolution, the Sino-Japanese War and the War of Liberation is not a simple sense of regime change, also related to all aspects of rural social changes, which started from the rural culture by the Communist Party of China and broke the old ideas and cultural systems. The rural social reform starting from the cultural change has depended on the cultural tension in rural society to complete and it is a quiet rural revolution. So, this study path can be highlighted the significance of cultural changes in the regional society development. The social and cultural changes are an epitome of social change in Taihang Base, the research of which can provide a vivid and concrete reality specimen for people to study the specific situation of social changes and universal significance in the base areas. Based on the study of the rural nature economy, the possession of the land, rural power structure, cultural and historical changes and rural society and culture and so on in the Taihang revolutionary base established in the 1930s and 1940s, with the social reform policies of the Communist Party in economy, polity and culture in the period of Sino-Japanese War and the Liberation War, the paper systematically studies the changes of society and culture from rural drama, wedding change,funeral change and women's feet liberation to reveal the form of regional socio-cultural evolution, characteristics and laws in the Taihang revolutionary base. With the detailed historical data, the paper provides a "reality" description about the social and cultural changes in the Taihang mountainous areas and social changes. In the research methods, based on the theory of regional and social history, combining with sociology, economics, culture and ecology approaches, from the perspective of cultural changes, this paper studies the Chinese Communist Party is how to control and promote a new culture, bring it into the process of regime construction and social change, and use political power to awaken and organize people to finish the rural society transformation under the harsh environment of war and a backward society controlled by the traditional ideology.